Typographical slug casting machine



Nov. l2, 1940.

J. R. CORY TYPOGRAPHICAL SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 3, 1940 Patented Nov. 12, 1940 PATENT OFFICE TYPOGRAPHICAL SLUG CASTING HINE MAC

John Robert C'ory, Chesterfield, England, assignor to Linotype and Machinery Limited, London, England, a limited-liability company Application August 3, 1940, Serial No. 350,703 In Great Britain July 25, 1939 Claims.

This invention relates to typographical slug casting machines such as those known commercially under the registered trade-mark Linotype, and more particularly to machines. provided with quadding and centering attachments, which may be set so that either or both of the vise-jaws, between which a composed line of matrices is clamped during the casting operation, will be automatically moved inwards to close on to a line of less length than that for Which the jaws are set.

In mechanism of thiskind inward and outward movement of the jaws is controlled by means of a cam acting upon a reciprocating rod to which the jaw or jaws are connected as desired through a system of levers. Subsequently tothe quadding movement, the composed line is justified by means o-f a justification bar which rises and spreads the spacebands in the line to the appropriate extent for justification of the line. Y

The vise-jaws are normally set for the length of slug which it is Vdesired to cast for a given column width and the quadding mechanism is out of action until it is rendered operative by an appropriateV setting of a quadder control lever or the like. Howevenwhen setting up short paragraphs each consisting `ofv `a few linesy of standard length and a short lastline, termed a break line, it is convenient to provide for` the quadding ofthe break lines without necessitating repeated adjustments of the quadder control levenV and this maybe accomplished by mechanism which, while permitting the quadder conto be composed irrespective of the setting of the 50 quadding attachment.

A further object of the invention is to obtain the same and equal word spacing for all quadded lines.

According to the invention the cycle of op- 5 erations in a typographical slug casting machine trol lever to be set in an active position, prevents provided with a quadding and centering attachment is so arranged that justication of the composed lines of matrices and spacebands takes place prior to the operation of the quadding mechanism so that a line is spread out to its 5 maximum extent before any quadding operation can take place. Should the line not be spread out to the normal length for which the vice-jaws are set, it is then automatically quadded and the l word spacing for all quadded lines will remain the same. I

A preferred form of apparatus for carrying out the invention and a method of operating same are hereinafter described with reference to s' the accompanying drawing, which shows in side elevation the relevant parts of a typographical slug casting machine.

The mechanism illustrated embodies the known form of quadding mechanism in which the visejaws or a selected vise-jaw are moved inwardly for centering or quadding by the downward movement of a quadder control rod I. Only one of the vise-jaws and one of the two sets of levers and links by which the same are connected to` the quadder control rod are represented in the drawing, 2 being the vise-jaw and 3, 4 the link and lever which latter isl connected to the control rod I when desired by appropriate adjustment of the control rod collar 5. The quadding operation is controlled by a cam 6 secured to the main 30 cam shaft I of the machine, this quadder cam being connected to the quadder control rod I by lever members 8, 9 and Il] and link II. The lever arm 9 is under the influence of a spring I2 tending to move thequadder control rod I to its inactive position, and is actuated against the action of said spring to render the quadder control rod operative, by the cam controlled lever arm 8 through a plunger`I3 acting on a spring in a barrel I4. 40

The justification mechanism comprises a cam I5 mounted on the cam shaft 1, a lever I6 and a spring II constantly urging a roller I8 on lever I6 towards the operative surface of the cam I5. A bar I9 is moved upwardly to effect justification by expansion of the spacebands in the composed line, said upward movement being controlled by the lever I6 through apair of justification rods of which one only, identified by the reference numeral 20, is illustrated in the drawing. As thus far described, the quadding and justifying mechanisms are substantially of known form, the normal operation of which, hereinbefore briefly referred to, is Well understood.

line 22, so as to retard the closing of the vise jaw or jaws Set Vfor quadding or centering until after justification, controlled by the depression 2'3 of the cam i5, has taken place.

The method of carrying out the invention with the apparatus above described, can now readily be understood, bearing in mind that in the drawing the quadding and justification levers are shown in their normal inactive position and the cams are represented in a position reached at an intermediate stage of a single rotation of the cam shaft 'l controlling one operative cycle of the machine. At said stage of the machine cycle, a composed line of matrices and spacebands has been presented between the vise-jaws 2 which are fully open, the quadder control rod I being in its inactive'position. Continued rotation of the cam shaft to carry the cams in clockwise direction as indicated by the arro-w in the drawing, presents the depression 23 of the justication cam l5 to the roller i8, and the usual initial upward movement of the justification lever i6 and bar i9 takes place to spread the line by expansion of the spacebands. Immediately thereafter ,1g the quadder cam surface 22 comes into operation on the lever 3 to effect the quadding operation. If, however, the line has been fully spread against the vise-jaws which, during'the just-mentioned rise of the justification bar i9, were held against their respective banking abutments according to the length `of line for which they are set, then the jaw or jaws selectedfor quadding or centering will be prevented from moving inwardly, and the justification bar rises in` known manner a second time for the second justification when the depression 24 of the justification cam reaches the roller I8. The line spread to the full length will be thus locked and a 4justified line of regular or normal length will be` obtained. When, however, there are insufcient spacehands to spread the line to the full extent whenthe depression 23 is operative, they jaw or jaws selected for quadding or centeringywillmove inwardly and the line will be automatically quadded or centered. In this case, as :the spacebands will have been spread to their full extent, the word spacing of all quadd-ed lines will be the same and equal. y I

From the position of the normal operative cam surface 2| indicated on the' drawing it will be clear that the removal of a portion ofan existing quadder cam to bring that operative-surface to the full line position 22, is sufficient to cause the justifying mechanism to actin advance of the quadding mechanism in the cycle of operations. The invention could also be carried out, however, by modifying the cam controlling the justification mechanism to secure a corresponding advance of the justification operation, and it is to be understood that the invention includes any convenient arrangement providing for the justification to be effected prior to the quadding.

Having described my invention, I declare that what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a typographical slug casting machine, the combination of quadding mechanism adapted to effect inward movement of a line clamping jaw towards a composed line of matrices and spacebands, justifying mechanism adapted to expand the spacebands to justify the composed line, and actuating means for said mechanisms operable automatically during each machine cycle to expand the spacebands in the composed line prior to the inward movement of the line clamping jaw.

2. In a typographical slug casting machine, the combination of quadding mechanism adapted to effect inward movement of a line clamping jaw.

towards a composed line of matrices and spacebands, justifying mechanism adapted to expand the spacebands to justify the composed line, a cam controlling the actuation of the quadding mechanism, a cam controlling the actuation of the justifying mechanism, and a cam shaft on which said cams are relatively positioned so as to bring about actuation of the justifying mechanism prior to the actuation of the quadding mechanism during the rotation of the cam shaft controlling one operative cycle of the machine.

3. In a typographical slug casting machine, the combination of quadding mechanism adapted `to effect inward movement of a line clamping jaw towards a composed line of matrices and spacebands, justifying mechanism adapted to expand the spacebands to justify the composed line, a cam shaft controlling one operative cycle of the machine, a cam Vmounted on said shaft controlling the actuation of the justifying mechanism, and a cam mounted on said shaft controlling the actuation of the quadding mechanism and shaped so as to retard the inward movement of the line clamping jaw until after justification.

4. A method of operatingla typographical slug casting machine provided with a quadding and centering mechanism, in which a line of matrices and spacebands is justified and is subsequently quadded or centered.

5. A method of operating a typographicalslug casting machine provided with a quadding and centering mechanism, in which a line of matrices and spacebands is justified and spread out to its maximum extent by expansion of the spacebands and is subsequenly quadded or centered.

JOHN ROBERT C'ORY. 

